801
Women in Brussels 'filmed without their knowledge' by men wearing Meta smart glasses (www.brusselstimes.com)
submitted 4 months ago* by to c/technology@lemmy.world
321 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

“Experts in Europe warn that these devices are used to record strangers without their consent, possibly breaching EU law.”

“A small LED light is designed to indicate when recording is taking place, but RTBF's investigators found that tutorials explaining how to conceal the indicator are abundant and easily accessible online.”

Sometimes I have a hard time deciding who I despise more, parasite Mark Zuckerberg or its witless hosts who keep using its products—yes, Zuck's pronoun is it. Ban Ray-Ban, for frick's sake.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 178 points 4 months ago (22 children)

Who would’ve known this would happen? Everyone. Meta knew people would use it for the bad and they still decided to go on with it because money.

Hope there will be a way to prevent being recorded, like some tech that disables it or something.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 22 child comments
    •
  • [–] 36 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    There are lights that work on some cameras. I'm not sure which (infrared, I think prolly others). Search the web. They exist. But how are you gonna have that at all times everywhere? Easier to set the Meta HQ on fire. And that's prolly not easy.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago

    But how are you gonna have that at all times everywhere?

    Someone made a hoodie with IR LED lights all around the face. I bet one could also build it into a necklace or something, but you'd need some sort of battery in your pocket to power them.

    The real problem with these is that they are only really effective at night. In daylight, the blinding effect of the LEDs is minimized.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 24 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    like some tech that disables it or something.

    The word you're looking for is "hammer".

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 16 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Baseball bats have better range.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago

    Yeah, but nothing delivers the message better than calming grabbing the glasses, put them on the table in front of the glasshole, smash them with the hammer in a single confident blow and then placing the remnants back on their face. No words spoken, just a powerfull message delivered.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago

    there are open source android apps that tell you when a meta rayban is nearby (using the phone's ability to scan nearby bluetooth devices) which isn't really good enough but it's something i guess

    https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglasses

    if you're a woman and the creep is a man, there's always the option of pepper spray i guess, though then you will have to justify yourself somehow. i don't think predominantly male chud cops will accept the reasoning of "i feel unsafe" from women, even if it's true and valid.

    as for impractical ideas, you can always carry around a 5W laser pointer and then try and fry the camera. of course does not work irl.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    I've always thought an EMP bomb would do some good. Snap worker bees out of their unhealthy relationship with working, disable vehicles, make people fulfil their needs physically

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    Years ago I tried calling out the normalization of anybody recording anybody in public without their knowledge or consent, and nobody cared because I was a man so they thought I didn't deserve privacy. Now the headlines frame it as a women's issue and suddenly everyone cares.

    It's not a gendered thing. It's a privacy issue. People didn't care when I raised concerns about it, and I'm not surprised that it's biting people on the ass.

    I still think it's wrong, I just don't find it surprising given people's reactions whenever I raised concerns about it.

    Also, ray-ban was stupid for allowing this because obviously nobody is going to buy their shit anymore. They had a distinctive design that now nobody is going to trust...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    I can tell you the vast majority of people don't care AND Raybans gets their name in the media more often so it's marketing for them.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    They've made crap sunglasses for a while now. I went to another company for my Aviators.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago

    I never said I liked raybans, but for a while over a decade ago they were all the rage with the hipster/indie crowd. People liked them, and their style was distinctive. So distinctive that even a cheap knockoff were called "raybans" for the shape of the frame and lenses.

    Now no one in their right mind besides annoying tech bros are going to wear raybans, because anyone who sees them is going to assume they have cameras with facial recognition linked to meta's servers.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent